


Help From Old Friends

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, kind of a badverse honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21815158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Human AU- setting isn’t too important, maybe mid to late 19th century?North is a jolly older Russian man with a sturdy, comfortable house on a large estate. One day, while surveying his grounds, he comes across an injured teenage (15/16 yo) boy who’s also half-frozen to death from the cold.North brings him to his home and treaties his injuries. The boy is skittish and shy, only revealing that his name is Jack. As soon as he’s recovered enough to walk, he thanks North and leaves. Jack returns and visits one or twice to again express his gratitude, and North gradually gets Jack to open up.North eventually finds out from someone else (talking to a Guardian?) that the boy is the child-spouse of Pitch Black, a vicious business mongrel, who lives in an estate nearby North’s. At the time of the marriage between Pitch and Jack...[cut for length]"Oh, I’ll get you your happy ending, prompter. But it’ll be on my terms, and it won’t be blackice, not for this situation.The fill is a conversation between North and Bunny about the method that North has decided would be the best way to solve Jack’s problems.
Relationships: Jack Frost/Pitch Black
Kudos: 9
Collections: Blackice Short Fics





	Help From Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 12/21/2015.
> 
> Here's the rest of the prompt: "everyone who knew either of them was gossiping because of the vast age difference, with Jack being so much younger than Pitch, and there were shady circumstances surrounding the marriage, with Jack being in a bad situation and Pitch taking advantage of that.
> 
> North and Jack become closer, and Jack reveals that his sister is ill, and Pitch had always been wealthy and interested, so when his parents died, he married to support his sister. It turns out that Pitch has a nasty temper and takes it out on Jack every once in a while. Immediately upon hearing this, North makes his home a safe haven where Jack is always welcome.
> 
> I’d just really like to see North being Jack’s protective friend/father figure in this situation, and helping him through it/encouraging him to leave Pitch, something like that.
> 
> OPTIONAL PART OF FILL (MPREG)
> 
> Jack, when he’s getting close to North, becomes pregnant with Pitch’s child. Pitch is very pleased by this, and makes a deliberate effort to not lash out at Jack. This leads Jack to hope that a child could bring harmony to the marriage, and he confides to North that he thinks the baby will improve his situation. North is cautiously happy about Jack’s excitement and hope for the baby, but when Jack tells him that, he can’t help but just despair at Jack’s naïveté.
> 
> Either way, a happy ending would be much appreciated."

Mr. St. North sat in an easy chair before the fire, his hands folded over his belly, looking somberly at a letter resting on the coffee table. It was not a large letter, not yet sealed, nor yet addressed, but it seemed to fill the room for him and his companion, now sitting in the match of his own chair, though not quite so comfortably. He had just read the letter.  
  
“Nick, it chills me to the bone that you even thought of writing this letter, and much more that you have already done so,” Mr. Aster said. He had the look of someone who had been a hard athlete in his youth, but had since softened, an impression only exacerbated by the long, bulky green coat he insisted on wearing to protect himself from drafts. “You left that world behind just in time. The consequences that might arise from this…Nick, you’re rich, but you’re also foreign. With what this letter asks, your fine house and your position become as fragile as if they were made of eggshells. You’d get sent away. I don’t know if you’d get put in prison or sent back to Russia, but at your age, I don’t know if you’d survive either.”  
  
“Edward! Really? I am not quite so frail as all that. And you assume that this plan would be discovered. I have already thought about that. This is not why I am looking for your advice.”  
  
Edward wrinkled his nose, a tendency which had earned him a nickname many years ago that he’d sworn, since adopting his green coat, to deny to the ends of the Earth. “Neither of us are as young as we used to be, Nick. The people that letter would go to aren’t as young as they used to be, either! But, you’ll probably tell me you’ve thought about that, too. Right. So you’re asking me about the morality of this?” He sighed. “I was there when Alexander told you what he knew about SupMr. Black. I’ve met InfMr. Black. Working from my own principles rather than the law, I can’t tell you not to send that letter. But if you thought I was just going to agree with you, you wouldn’t have had me visit specifically to talk about it.” He took off his odd, oval spectacles and fixed Nick with a pair of surprisingly bright green eyes. “So. If you’re doing this because you’re planning on becoming SupMr. St. North to the widowed InfMr. Black, I will tell you to stop. He’s practically still a boy, and the only love he knew before the situation he’s in now was for his family. I’d reckon he doesn’t know how his own heart, mind, and body sway for matters of choosing a spouse.”  
  
“That is not why I wrote the letter or why I have been planning this,” Nick said. “I am doing this because Jack needs a friend, and if I am to be that friend I refuse to let my aid be limited to my hospitality when, always too soon, he must return to the Black house.”  
  
“All right.” Edward folded his hands. “You want to be a benefactor, why not offer to pay for the care of InfMr. Black’s sister? If you remove his financial dependence on SupMr. Black he could separate and file for divorce.”  
  
Nick nodded. “This is a reasonable objection. And if the individuals involved were any others, I would tend more toward this option. But in speaking with my solicitor—very circumspectly, of course—it has become apparent that SupMr. Black’s business enterprises were ones I was familiar with long before I even dreamed of this fine house and stable life. To be frank, I believe that by pursuing the plan that the letter puts in motion, I am playing on a level field with SupMr. Black. You recall the affair of the Cherno onyxes?”  
  
Edward raised his eyebrows. “How could I forget? As close to death as any of us got, back in those days, and there were a lot of near misses to choose from.”  
  
“And now I believe that SupMr. Black may have been the one responsible for the nearness of that miss. But! Before you say anything, this is not about revenge. After all, we are all still alive. I am just saying this to show that I think SupMr. Black will rather kill than let go of what he believes to be his.”  
  
“So even if InfMr. Black thought the scandal was worth it, he’d never really be free of SupMr. Black. That’s what you’re saying,” Edward said.  
  
“Precisely.”  
  
Edward sighed again. “I don’t care for SupMr. Black or what he’s doing either. All I can say now is that I know this isn’t how people are supposed to address their problems. The kind of power we have with our money isn’t supposed to be used this way, now that we’re legitimate.” He frowned. “No, wait, that’s not all I can say, and a good thing, too, because it wasn’t even convincing me. Were you going to tell InfMr. Black about this? What would he say? The more you have to persuade him before the thing is done, the greater danger to you.”  
  
“I was never going to tell him,” Nick said, surprised.  
  
Edward shook his head. “If you really want to be his friend, you can’t plan to keep this secret forever. Do you have any friends, real friends, who don’t know a big chunk of your secrets?”  
  
Nick hummed. “No,” he finally said, with an ironic smile. “But Jack is…not the type to consider the solution I have come up with in any circumstances. But I think…well, of course I think it would be better for him if he was free! Otherwise I would not have made this plan!”  
  
“It’s not good to keep making decisions for him,” Edward mused. “After SupMr. Black, you don’t want him to get any more used to that than he is. But, North.”  
  
“Yes, Bunny?” Nick replies, answering his old nickname with one in return.  
  
“What if you did kill SupMr. Black for revenge? Do you think Mr. Black, newly singular, could forgive you your spotted past?”  
  
“You know, I believe he could,” North said.  
  
“Well, then.” Bunny shook his head. “I suppose you still have your old ring? Not very sensible of you to keep it, but that’s as it is. Well, well. Be careful, North. I’m glad you had me visit, but I suppose even from the start I wouldn’t have been able to talk you out of helping a friend and getting a chance to see Tooth again.”  
  
North beamed at him. “You will help her with her passport if she needs it, yes?”  
  
“Yes, yes,” Bunny said. “Even if it means literally tunneling here. Of course. And soon all InfMr. Black will have to worry about is whether he’s going to change his name to Mr. Frost again or not.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tags from Tumblr:
> 
> #I honestly wonder what kind of happy ending this prompter imagined#the baby solving everything for reals?#honey no#that doesn't work


End file.
